Repair and Refurbishment of Sumitomo Coldheads

This is a Notice of Proposed Contract Action under the FAR Part 12 Acquisition of Commercial Items and FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures. This notice is for information only; a solicitation will not be issued. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTATION. No contract will be awarded on the basis of offers received in response to this notice. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 811210 with a small business size standard of $34M in annual receipts.

The Government’s superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) system requires a “hot swap” replacement of three (3) cryogenic coldheads manufactured by Sumitomo Cryogenics of America, Inc. Replacement must be done on site by a Sumitomo trained technician. The Government intends to negotiate a sole source contract with Sumitomo Cryogenics of America, 1833 Vultee Street, Allentown, PA. The Government has determined that no other source can make this repair.

The coldheads are a custom product manufactured by Sumitomo and they contain custom parts and IP that are not readily available from any other source. The coldheads swap is a required maintenance to their operation. One coldhead has failed and the other two are due for repair. The required action must be performed by a Sumitomo trained technician.

This is a notice of proposed contract action and not a request for competitive proposals; however, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement or proposal, which shall be considered by the agency. All inquiries should be sent by email to Jenna.Tarbania@us.af.mil. Responses must be submitted by the date/time listed on the notice. Any response to this notice must show clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government in future procurements.

Responses received will be evaluated; however a determination by the Government not to compete the proposed procurement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The Government anticipates an award date on or before 31 July 2025. A Sole Source Justification will be attached to the subsequent Notice of Award in accordance with applicable regulation.